Winter Carnival 2011

Every year, St. Paul hosts the Winter Carnival. They have all sorts of activities, but they are famous for their amazing ice scuptures! We had never gone, and since we wanted to celebrate the winter with the other frozen Minnesotans, we decided to see what it was all about. We bundled up and were ready for a day outside. I was actually looking forward to seeing the sculptures and enjoying the "warmer" winter weather. The highlight of the day for Abi & Max was the free ice skating! We had a great time! By the time we left the rink, Abi was skating like she'd been doing it for years, and Max didn't quite have jelly legs and could stand up for a few minutes at a time. It was fun to enjoy the downtown spirit and spend some great family time together. Now bring on the Summer! I'm ready!

Happy Birthday....

...to the Worlds greatest guy!

It's Aaron's birthday today and I wanted to wish him the best birthday ever! Can I tell you how incredibly blessed I am to have this wonderful, amazing, goofball guy in my life. I have so enjoyed the past 10 years with you celebrating all our accomplishments and lifting each other during the trying times. I am overflowing with love and gratitude for your selfless love given to me and our sweet kids, Abi & Max. There is not a day that goes by that I thank our Maker for putting you into my life. You have made me whole. You have given me the best family any girl could ever have. You have loved me and supported me and carried me through the dark times as well as the best times. Every day is a treat to have you with me making me and the kids smile and laugh and feel like we are the most important people in the world. May this year be better than the last and just as special. You are amazing, and I look up to you in your steadfastness and confidence. Keep going! It's a fantastic ride and I'm right here with you enjoying every minute. I love you, Aaron! Happy Birthday!

2009 in Review...kind of...

I have had a bad run at keeping our blog updated! I've had many requests to post something new, so I've been working on a "2009 Year in Review". Sad to say, I've only gotten to July. I'm stopping there. I've got too much more to post! So without further adieu....Here's the Cooper Family's 2009 through July!

Abi lost her 1st tooth. She was so excited it came out while chewing her gum...she took great pride in showing her gum and tooth in the same picture!

Aaron and I went to Seattle for a residency interview. While there, we stayed with our dear friends the Sybrowskys. They showed around the area and I got craft time with the craft master, Mandy!We took our annual trip to Lava Hot Springs this year. This year we went with the Olsen's. It was so much fun going with some of our favorite neighbors. The hot pots were wonderful as usual in the cold February air. We also found out that Aaron was matched with Children's in Minneapolis, Minnesota. He worked so hard, now we are all on an adventure to the Midwest!

Aaron and I took a trip to Minnesota to find place to live. We found a great place with a fantastic landlord (you the man, Joe!) just 3 miles from the temple. We are spoiled to live so close to it.

May was the busiest, craziest, most fun month! We started with Aaron graduating from Pharmacy School at the University of Utah--Hello, Dr. Cooper!! We raced in the 2009 Race for the Cure. Our team, Fake Boobs, Real Life, earned over $600 to donate to the Susan G. Komen Foundation. Go Fake Boobs! We took an awesome vacation to California, then celebrated Max's 3rd birthday. It was so much fun and so busy! Sheesh, we need a vacation from all this partying and celebrating! *wink* June was a month of big changes! We drove across the country to our new home. The family spent time unpacking and exploring Minnesota. Our first family exploration was a camping trip to Taylors Falls. We camped and canoed and rode the paddleboat down the St. Croix river. It was heaven!

July was filled with more exploration. Here we are featured in our funny bike at Minnehaha Falls. We also laugh when we say "Minnehaha", but we were laughing even more while riding this crazy bike. What a blast!

What happened in August?! Check out the past postings of the blog...I'm finished with the year end review...I'm just letting go and pressing forward. I've got a few fun posts up my sleeve, like playdough cookies on a stick, info about my new business, Sister Secrets and tubing down the Minnesota "mountains". New year resolutions? Be better at being present. I'm spending more quality time with family and friends. Can't wait! 2010 is going to be the BEST YET!

Apple Farm Adventures

This last weekend, we went to Aamodt's Apple Farm. Abi & Max have really enjoyed all the farms in Minnesota where you can pick your own stuff. They have been dying to go to the apple farm and pick their own apples and couldn't get in the car fast enough when we told them we were going. We picked three different kinds of apples--Sweet 16, Haralson, Regent--and the kids had a blast choosing the best one from the trees. Max kept asking when we would get a ladder, but the trees were all pruned and no ladders were necessary. Not to worry, Max enjoyed eating the apples and soon the ladder was forgotten. Abi crawled through the trees to get the prettiest apple for Mom. We all enjoyed several apples (Max, one in each hand!) while in the orchard and even got to see a few hot air balloons take off. After we had picked a full bag (about 6 pounds), we bought some apple cider doughnuts and went home to enjoy them with some hot chocolate. It was a great afternoon.

Fall Canning Extravaganza!

I did it! I did it! I canned 17 pints of salsa and 23 pints of pizza sauce all by myself! Well, all by myself minus the 50 calls to Mom with questions--like what is a scant tablespoon? A lady from our ward brought by a 5 gallon bucket of hot peppers for us to use. What in the world do you do with that many peppers!?! I did want salsa, so decided to find some tomatoes and see how many peppers I could use for that project. Max and I went on another adventure and found a little man who had a few boxes of tomatoes left on his farm. He sold me a hefty 20 lbs. of tomatoes for $15! I reasoned if I were to can tomatoes, then I needed to look cute, so I decided to make me a canning diva apron. I found a great tutorial from Little Birdie Secrets (my dear friend Mandy's awesome site). Then I canned and canned and canned--I even helped my friend can a batch of salsa. Max loved playing with the peppers and hanging them from the counter, and I of course had to have my good friend Cherry Coke Zero help in the process. Now I have a great little stock pile of beautiful jars of salsa and pizza sauce, and a cute apron to boot! What's for dinner tonight? Soft tacos and salsa of course!

Adventures with Max

After a few days of canning salsa and pizza sauce and staying home all day, Max and I decided to go on our own adventure. I heard of a cool furniture store call Mudd Lake outside of Minneapolis so I thought we'd check it out. Mudd Lake ended up being an hour's drive away, but Max and I enjoyed the scenery and little farms that surrounded the store. The leaves were changing and you could tell fall was officially here. Max was excited to get out and explore all the old farm buildings that made up the store. I got a lot of great ideas for painting furniture and can't wait to start on my next project. We took pictures and had a fun time in the drizzly weather. Max is a funny guy and is always up for an adventure with me. The highlight of the day for Max was playing "I Spy". It went something like this:

Max: I spy something green.

Mom: Is it the trees?

Max: YES!

Mom: I spy something fluffy and white.
Max: The car?
Mom: No

Max: Me?

Mom: No, it's in the sky.

Max: It's got to be our car!

Mom: No, the clouds silly.

Max: Oh yeah. I spy something cloud and fluffy...

It's Here!

Fall has officially started. We can feel it in the air, the trees are changing, the kids are contemplating their Halloween costumes and now our decorations have gone up! As much as I LOVE summer and the heat, fall is one of my favorite seasons. It's a beautiful time of year, and I hear Minnesota has amazing falls. We are all super excited to see all the leaves change and take a boat ride down the river to see them, try a famous honeycrip apple and find an orchard to explore. It's a great harvest time to count our blessings and to thank those who have made our life better. So, thank you, Mom and Dad, for giving me the best gift, the gospel. Without it, I would not be anything that I am today. Thank you for giving me many opportunities to build a testimony and to know for myself who I am and that I have a purpose and role in the Great Creator's plan. I'm so excited to experience a new place with new friends during this awesome season! Fall has arrived and I'm here too!